A Political Discourse

The Beatles have this song that I love, “A Day in the Life.” The first line of it says, “I saw the news today, oh boy…”

That’s what just happened to me. I try to stay up on current events, but I let that slide for the weekend. Now I find that my country’s so-called commander-in-chief has snubbed our closest allies over trade and climate while complaining that Russia — the country that sabotaged our election — has no seat at that table, and meanwhile Mr. President looks to make nice with North Korea’s child-king. The Republican strategy the last few decades — the one where it doesn’t matter who sits in the Oval Office so long as that person can sign whatever Congress puts through — has been gamed, overridden, and has officially blown up in the face of everyone who was so afraid of the liberal agenda monster that was prophesied from on high to bring about the end of our country. *head/desk*

Let me take a step back. As with religion / spirituality, I don’t usually blog much about politics. I haven’t said much since the election cycle, and I said even then that Trump was dangerous. Much like with Rian Johnson doing something different on The Last Jedi for the sheer sake of being different, and to hell with the consequences because the next movie gets to clean that up. It leaves the narrative disjointed and unplugs the ability of any side of any debate from the ability to actually talk to one another. The difference is that Star Wars has a team that will eventually figure something out, and there are always more stories to tell. If anything, we need a Luke Skywalker to step up in the real world. Or better yet, a Princess Leia.

And as of today, the repeals on Net Neutrality go into effect thanks to Trump’s Verizon shill.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. We need more moderates, people who can talk, people who can be reasonable in discourse and compromise over perceived differences. We don’t have Republicans and Democrats anymore. We have fascists and socialists. Can you tell the difference? I can’t.

And at the same time… I read that statement, the paragraph I just wrote, and see that I’m part of the problem too. Every last person who calls themselves an American is part of this problem. We’re too busy demonizing one another. Too proud to listen. Too helpless to stop the madness. Or worse yet, too stupid or just too lazy to care in any way that might be productive. It’s the 21st century. Cowboy diplomacy doesn’t work. It didn’t work in the 19th century either. Ask our natives.

Who we elect into office means everything. Who sits in that chair should be there because we voted for a set of ideals, not against the perception of another party. We don’t put anyone into the primaries that are worthy of being elected in the first place, which really speaks volumes. We point fingers at one another and whine about identity politics and pet causes. We focus on details while remaining oblivious to the man child who has proven himself unqualified to run his own business ventures, let alone a country. We’ve never had perfect in this country. Every president has flaws, some more than others, and all of them after Lincoln most likely need to be brought up on charges of war crimes at the very least. But at least I could point back to any of them, whether I sided with their views or not, and say that they had the people’s best interest in mind, regardless of how misinterpreted that might be. Republicans used to be about conservation and civil rights, before money became king and the government was deemed unworthy enough to defend those rights in the name of the almighty dollar. Democrats used to be about liberal values in the classic sense: the values that create liberty… before everyone became part of an exclusive clique with a unique agenda. It was never a perfect system. Read the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, and you can see that for yourselves. But for all of the flaws of the founders, they understood two things: history will judge us all by the actions we take, and we either stand together or hang separately.

And since I know I have an international audience… I don’t know what to tell you here. Sooner or later, Trump will fall, even if it just means his term ends, be that with a re-election or not. Scarily enough, I discount nothing at this point. Either way, whatever damage he wreaks will take a lot of time and effort to moderate. America used to lead in the world. Now we’re too busy throwing tantrums while the adults talk.

*sigh* Enough soapbox. Sometimes I just need to get this out of my system. This is one of those times. Perhaps I’ll blog more on this at some point, perhaps I won’t. In any case, regardless of what side of this you happen to stand, thanks for reading. That already puts you ahead of most people in this country if you’re willing to listen to what someone else has to say.

This bit of technicolor word vomit is brought to you by coffee. Yes: have some.

Post script: I realized after I posted that I forgot to title this, so if you receive email updates and clicked that link… apologies.

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15 thoughts on “A Political Discourse”

I couldn’t agree more with this, and I have to really wonder how it can change for the better or if enough people even want that change. So many people seem to enjoy attacking and insulting rather than discussing compromise and possible solutions.

“And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph”

I must admit I am rather fond of the photo that went around last weekend (the one with T being surrounded by a barrage of other leaders who just looked at him like a toddler throwing a hissy fit). It was very expressive.
As entertaining as the picture was, this is not what I want to see from a political summit. Give me pictures of people debating with each other! Not as entertaining, downright boring, in fact, but who needs entertainment when people’s welfare are at stake?!